


Grag and the Seventh Space Stone

by Springkink (Zebra)



Category: Captain Future - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Based upon German Version, Case Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-01
Updated: 2012-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-08 22:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/448443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Springkink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Captain Future, Professor Simon, and Otto away on Megara, it's up to Grag to bring one of the Seven Space Stones to the Museum of Natural History for a special exhibition. The job is easy enough and Grag only fears the boredom and loneliness on the Moonbase afterwards. Little did he know that the stone would turn up stolen within moments of him leaving the museum, using technology last seen with Captain Future's archnemesis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grag and the Seventh Space Stone

  
The Comet left Grag‘s sight.

It was bound for Megara, where a recent expedition had unearthed more ruins from the old Megara culture. Officials kept everybody at bay, even the natives. The Captain had been called in to make sure that nothing dangerous lurked in those ruins. Nothing which could give rise to another Emperor. The natives didn’t trust the humans not to plunder the ruins for their own gain and the humans didn’t trust the natives of Megara not to use whatever those ruins hid against them. Captain Future was the only person both sides trusted to be fair to them and make sure neither side would gain the upper hand.

Professor Simon and Otto had gone with him as further brain an brawn. 

It irked Grag that Otto had been taken instead of him, he had been of instrumental help when they’d been caught in those ruins under the Sea of Fire.

But someone had to fulfill the promise Captain Future had given to the Museum of Natural History on Earth. For quite some time they’d been interested in the seven space stones. The Captain had taken them with to make sure they’d never fall into wrong hands again and the microcosmos be endangered. 

Which was how Grag ended up being left alone on the Moon. The Captain had even taken Yiek with him to Megara, the little moon pup being the best metal detector in the known universe and probably beyond. It made Grag proud, even though it meant he was truly alone and would be for some time. He had never been this alone and most certainly not on the moon base.

Walking the empty halls was weird, his metallic footstep echoing louder than ever before. The generators where still humming barely audible in the background, circulating air through empty laboratories, keeping the base warm and lit. Still it felt more lifeless than ever before to Grag.

He hurried, he didn’t want to stay here and wallow in his misery. There was an actual job he had to do.

The museum had pestered the President so long that finally he had contacted the Futurecrew and brokered a deal with the Captain. One of the seven space stones would go up on display at the museum and it was Grag’s job now to bring that stone safely to Earth.

He entered the trophy room, which was perpetually lifeless, a monument to their past adventures, but to Grag something which was behind them and of barely any further interest.

The stones lay in their casket, nothing hinting at the secret hidden with in the cold facets. Gently, carefully he took the space stone and put it into the prepared case. The museum had wanted to display all seven stones, but the Captain considered that too dangerous. So the museum had to live with one stone. One stone which would draw enough attention, not only by itself, by being one of the seven and part of the way to the microcosmos but also by it having been in Captain Future’s possession. 

The Futurecrew was reclusive, few ever saw them, fewer got to work with them, and those whom the Futurecrew called friends could be counted on two hands. Given by what they had already accomplished it was no wonder, that the humans all over the galaxy where fascinated by them and what they did for the universe. And now Grag brought them something to look at, something to get a little closer glimpse at the world the so called Wizard of Science lived in. It was not only the stone Grag carried to the Cosmoliner’s twin kept in reserve on the moon base. He carried an account written by the Captain, an account of their adventure to gain the seven stones and the world to which they had led them.

Two weeks Captain Future had granted the museum, two weeks during which everybody could look, but no one could touch. It had been the Captain’s stipulation, he certainly understood the mineralogists desires to have another look at the stone, but they already had had their chance, back when they’d only thought it an ordinary piece of jewelery, back then they hadn’t interested, only now searching through archives and auction catalogs, searching for any information they could get on the not so ordinary piece of jewelry.

Grag reached the little shuttle. Carefully he stored the case, securing it against accidentally becoming dislodged. 

And then he was off, the hangar doors hadn’t closed yet, Earth hanging like a blue jewel in the sky.

Leisurely Grag took off, there was plenty of time to get to Earth and he was in no hurry to finish his job just to return to the empty moon base. There weren’t even any experiments needing monitoring. Grag had tried to raise Eszella or Joan, so he could spend some time with them. But Eszella was on his way to his own hard earned vacation and Joan hadn’t answered his messages yet.

Softly the shuttle touched down at the New York space port.

Grag took the case with the space stone and secured the shuttle.

Someone was running towards him. The young man didn't look like a member of Planet Patrol nor like one of the hard-nosed criminals the Futurecrew usually faced off against.

Still, Grag remained on guard, keeping one hand on the shuttle's controls, in case he needed to get out of here fast.

But the young man, upon arriving at Grag's position, doubled over and kept wheezing. As often as Grag wished he were human, in situations like these, he quite clearly saw the advantage of his robotic nature. Grag would never be kept from talking because he was too busy just breathing.

Ever so often the young man looked up and tried to say something. Grag thought he had made out a “Hello” among the dedicated breathing efforts.

“Take your time. You didn't have to run. I would have come to you. I'm Grag.”

The man straightened, determination in his eyes, he took a deep breath and promptly broke out in coughs.

Patiently Grag waited for the coughs to subside.

“I'm … Robert Lee. The museum sends me … to make sure you and the stone arrive … safe and sound, Mr Grag,” said Mr Lee. Grag felt flattered, it wasn't often that someone called him Mister or send an escort for him.

“Nice to meet you, Mr Lee. I have the stone here,” Grag pointed at the case. “I'll make sure nothing happens to it till we arrive at the museum.”

“Ah, yes. If you’d come this way, please.”

Lee pointed back towards the building he’d come from. Silently they made their way to the building and through it. Grag cast for something to say, but nothing fitting came to his mind, except the weather, which was too mundane a topic to talk about for Grag’s taste.

Lee offered no conversation either, wringing his hands in apparent disquiet.

Customs simply waved them through, more interested in an elderly woman hand her multitude of bags.

Outside Lee led him to a hover car parked in a ‘no parking’ area. Grag made a thoughtful noise at that. Lee scratched his head in embarrassment and offered apologetically: “It’s not what it looks like. We actually got a special exemption to park here. I just forgot to put the permit on the dash. Anyway, lets be on our way. You are already eagerly awaited.”

The hover car dipped slightly under Grag’s weight before it stabilized itself and sat their rock solid. Grag was pleased that someone had clearly put some thought into this by sending one of the sturdier freight cars instead of a lighter flitter, the likes were passing them on the streets. Grag wasn’t sure those could have taken his weight.

“It’s such an honor to meet you. I follow all news about Captain Future and his crew,” Lee didn’t take his eyes of the street while he talked.  
“I couldn’t believe my luck when my boss told me to fetch you from the space port. I always wanted to meet you. You must have had so many adventures and seen so many things I hope that one day, I’ll be one of the luck ones to go on an expedition with the Futurecrew. I make sure to read all the announcement in case something fitting comes up,”

So Lee was a fan. Grag seldom got the chance to talk about his adventures. The Captain and Otto usually partook in them themselves, the only one who’d really listen to him about them was Joan, whom he saw to seldom in his opinion.

“Yes, I have seen and done things beyond your wildest imagination.”

And so Grag told Lee about the fantastic adventures he had had at Captain Future’s side and if he made himself out to have been slightly more heroic and apt than he’d been, and Otto to have been somewhat more clumsy than he really, there was no harm done and Grag basked in the exclamations of awe Lee gave at especially dramatic points in Grag’s narration.

Time flew with Grag’s words and soon they found themselves at the museum, Lee parked in a spot marked ‘For Museum Use Only’. The director was already waiting for them.

“Ah, Mr Grag. We expected you. We are so happy to have this unique opportunity. We already have had so many ticket requests that we’ll have to lenghten our opening times to accommodate more visitors, and the media are already setting up their equipment for the grand opening of the Keruso Exhibition.”

Grag couldn’t even get in a word of greeting as the director all but bodily shoved him inside.

Inside people hurried to and fro ladders stood around, several persons were busy hanging streamers with designs from the ancient Keruso Dynasty. Quite clearly there was still a lot of work to be done before the exhibition could open in three days. The director led them through the hectic cluster of activity, barking an order at someone here or there. 

Then they came to a big round room. A pedestal stood in the center. The room was quiet, nothing hinting at the busy chaos outside.

“This is where we’ll display the stone. As you can see, there’s only one entrance, which is covered by three security cameras at all time. Likewise there are three cameras covering the pedestal. The display case is a custom creation, it could withstand an explosion and can only e opened when two keys are turned simultaneously in their locks at opposite side of the case. One key will remain with me and you’ll get the other.

“As you can see, we took every precaution to guarantee the security of the stone. If you’d now kindly place the stone into the display case.”

Grag didn’t like this man, he was far too obsessed with the stone, hardly keeping from grabbing for it as Grag transferred it from one case to another. And then with a click the display case closed over the stone. A cross between a relieved and a disappointed sigh came from the director. Reluctantly he gave one of the two keys to Grag.

“I will be back in three weeks to collect the stone,” Grag announced. 

“Yes, yes, it’ll be safe here till then,” was the director’s annoyed reply.

“I’ll bring Mr Grag back to the space port,” Lee, who had silently followed them, piped up.

“Yes, yes, don’t bother me with such trivialities,” the director snapped at them, having eyes only for the stone sparkling under the display lights.

Grag and Lee returned the way they’d come.

“Unpleasant fellow, isn’t he?”

“You have to forgive him. Studying the ancient Keruso Dynasty is his lifework. Having the stone here really means a lot to him, he didn’t get a chance to study a stone when the last one was here. Normally he’s really very friendly and personable.

* * *

They hadn't even covered half the way back to the space port when the call came.

“You have to come back!” the director shouted through the communication unit. “Oh! It's terrible! It's impossible!”

Lee was turning around the hover car, while Grag tried to talk to the director.

“We are on our way back. What happened?”

“A catastrophe happened! It has to be a trick! Our security measures are the best possible! It has to be a trick! It's simply impossible!”

A certain hunch befell Grag as to the only thing which could have the director in such a frenzy.

“The stone was stolen?”

It hadn't seemed possible, but the director shouted even louder, the speakers starting to crackle.

“It's impossible that the stone was stolen! Our security measures are flawless! There must be a trick to it! You have to get here immediately!”

So the stone appeared to be gone. Which should have been impossible, Grag agreed with the director on that point. Professor Simon and Captain Future had looked the security plans over, had even insisted on a first hand inspection, before signing the contract which would loan the stone to the museum. They'd have found any flaws in the security set up. The stone still had to be there.

Grag mentally went over what he had seen in the display room. There had been the cameras, the overhead lights and the pedestal. The room had been bare otherwise, the walls painted with pictures taken from ancient Kerusu scripts. Grag had clearly heard the snick when the glass case had locked over the stone, he had even pulled and pushed it this and that way. It had held securely against his superhuman strength. Nobody would have been able to get in by pure force, but to open the case they would have needed the two special magnet-coded keys. One of which Grag had taken out of the case himself and placed inside and compartment in his arm, so at least this key couldn't have been taken. It was a mystery.

They arrived at the museum, Grag not waiting for Lee to park the hover car, he simply sprang out as they passed the main entrance.

There were guards at the entrance, one making motions to stop him, but one of his fellows apparently recognized Grag and so he could pass unhindered.

Inside chaos reigned.

All manners of people were standing, milling and sitting about. An elderly gentlemen was arguing loudly with a security guard. Grag only overheard in passing that the guards had orders not to let anybody out and the man was protesting that he was an respected artist and had to get a custom-ordered cake from a well-known bakery and the museum would hear from his lawyer.

Leaving the noise behind, Grag hurried on through the rooms and halls. Till he finally came to the display room, a large crowd was standing in front of it.

“Finally you are here!”  
The director pushed through the crowd.

“What happened,” asked Grag.

“That’s what we are trying to figure out.”

The director dragged him into the display room, other people tried to push in after them, but the security guards kept them at bay. 

Grag looked into the case. There was only an indention where the stone had been.

“The space stone is gone,” Grag said in surprise.

“That’s utterly impossible, our security measures are perfect. It must be a hologram or something like that. When we open the case, we will simply feel the stone and find whoever is responsible for this gruesome visual trick.” 

The director placed his key into its lock.

“Or it’s a trick, trying to make us open the case.” Grag considered the mystery.

“What do you mean?” the director asked impatiently.

“Couldn’t someone who can turn the space stone invisible in its case turn also themselves invisible, just waiting for us to open the case and grab the invisible stone.”

The director was shocked.

“I hadn’t thought about that, what can we do? The guards could comb the room.”

“There is a simpler method, my eyes can see in the infrared spectrum. Even if the are invisible to in the visible spectrum of light, their body heat won’t be. I will see them.”

Grag walked to the door and turned around, methodically he scanned the room in such a way that nobody would be able to get from the unscanned part to the scanned part without him noticing. He ran his scan twice to be sure.

“There’s no one here. The only heat signatures are the cameras and the residual heat from where you touched the case. We can open it.”

Frazzled the director, who had stood behind Grag so as not the interfere with the scan, returned to the display case and placed his key into the lock once more. Grag placed his key in on the other side.

“On the count of three,” the director commanded regaining some of his composure.

Simultaneously they turned the keys. The was a soft snick as the case unlocked. Carefully Grag raised the display case. 

By unspoken agreement, they both moved a hand to the place where the stone should be.

There was only the soft cloth on which the stone was supposed to rest.

“The stone is gone,” Grag stated.

“That’s absolutely impossible. Nobody was in the room, two of our best guards stood in front of the door the whole time. The case was closed, both our keys are needed to unlock it. The stone must be here.”

Frantically the director felt all over the display case, but no stone turned up, finally he admitted defeat, “Someone call Planet Patrol. It seems the space stone was stolen.”

Grag kept close to the director, who seemed to have aged ten years in just a minute. Maybe they should have called Planet Patrol before they had disturbed the room, but there was nothing they could do about that now, except avoid further contaminating any evidence of the crime which might still be here.

This wasn’t just a tragedy to the director. Grag felt a personal responsibility, too. The theft must have occurred shortly after he had left the museum. Maybe the thief had even walked by him and Grag hadn’t seen him. Maybe he had missed something. 

Grag was determined to solve the case of the missing space stone before Captain Future returned.

* * *

A team send by the local police arrived within ten minutes.

The crowd in front of the display room parted easily for them. A tall woman followed by two men. She wore a sober expression and threw a sharp look at Grag and the director.

“I’m Inspector Lafoe. You reported a theft. What happened?”

The director gave a thorough account of what had been going on, Grag adding a detail here and there. After the director had finished speaking, the inspector stood, a hand on her chin, looking with cold gray eyes around the room.

“Officer Kalu, secure the footage from the cameras. Officer Albers, check the room for fingerprints. Director Segeti, Mister Grag, please come with me. We’ll just be in the way here and I want you to give your statements to the recorder team. We’ll also need to take your fingerprints, so we know which of the prints in here belong to you and which to the potential culprit.”

They left the room after Officer Kalu.

There was no longer a crowd in front of the room, instead there were several long queues, each leading to a table, apparently scrunched from somewhere, where policemen and -women questioned them. Grag could hear indistinct quiet murmur. At one table someone complained in a louder voice at being held here when they should have taken the bus ten minutes ago.

“I’m sorry for holding up your people, Director Segeti. But it’s better to take any statements now that the memories are still fresh in everybody’s brains. Please assure your people that this also means we probably won’t have to call them in later or bother them again. Your security team is to be commended, they reacted very fast after the alarm was raised and prevented any people to leave the building. They also managed to give us detailed description of the people who left during the time frame in question.”

Grag noted the little speaker in her left ear, so that’s how she knew. He was sure there hadn’t been enough time for her to get that information during face to face contact, but it made sense that her people would keep her informed of their findings.

“We are confident we’ll find the thief and recover the stone.”

After the inspector had their observations recorded, she led Grag to the security station, to have a look at the security tapes.

“Normally we wouldn’t allow laymen to participate in the investigations, but we’ll make an exception for a Futureman,” her voice was almost warm, “If you have any ideas what could have occurred, I’m very willing to listen. My team is waiting for me to look at the tapes. We hope there’ll be some clue to be found on them.”

Being treated with such reference, it felt great to Grag, and no Otto here to sour the experience.

But maybe he should inform the Captain what had happened. The microcosmos should be save enough for the time being, but Grag wasn’t sure what would happen if the stone was lost for a longer time. On the other hand, the Captain was needed on Megara and shouldn’t be bother with what might only be petty theft. Best to wait what was on the security tapes before he made a decision. 　

A policeman opened the door to the security room for them. Inside two men in the museum’s security garb sat in front of a room-high wall of video screens. Officer Kalu stood behind them. All three men had turned around at their entry. The two security men seemed to shrink away from them, while Officer Kalu took a step towards them, his face betraying his dismay.

“Inspector Lafoe, I secured the footage.” 

The inspector looked at the video wall.

“It seems to me every room of the museum can be seen from here at the same time. What did you see?” She looked at the two security men.

Grag hadn’t thought it possible, but the two guards shrank even further into themselves, both looking everywhere but the Inspector. After several moments of strained silence, during which the Inspector crossed her arms and Grag’s glance at the video wall confirmed that the display room was quite prominently displayed, taking up the nine screens in the center, Officer Kalu coughed slightly and answered dryly: “There were the quarter finals of the Solar Race taking place during the time frame in question ...”

“And you two decided the security would be tight enough, without your attention, didn’t you?”

Silence fell over the room again.

“There’s nothing we can do about that now. We should see whether the security footage sheds any light on the crime.”

At Grag’s words the charged atmosphere broke. Everybody turned to the video wall. Officer Kalu leaned over one of the guards and pressed a button. One of the screens shifted, now showing the director and Grag leaving the display room. The door hadn’t been closed for more than a blink when a ghostly figure seemed to appear through one of the walls.

“What the …?”

Everybody leaned closer to the screen to better see what happened next. The human figure solidified, walking over to the display case. There the man simply reached into the case and took the stone as if the glass weren’t there at all. 

Afterwards he calmly walked back to the wall and vanished through it.

“I have never seen such a thing. I’ll tell Officer Albers to triple check the wall and display case. Nobody can walk through solid walls.”

Grag stopped the Inspector.

“It’s possible to walk through walls.

“The Space Emperor did it. Vul Kuolun could do it, I did it, too. The former only used the technology for himself, but the later shared it with his comrades in crime.”

Grag didn’t mention that the Captain possessed the immaterilisation technology as well.

“I knew why I wanted you here with us. That hopefully gives us a lead. We’ll check what the members of Vul Kuolun’s gang have been up to. Officer Kalu, run the man in the video against our database. If he had something to do with Kuolun, he should be in it.”

“If Vul Kuolun’s involved, I have to inform Captain Future. I have to return to the Moonbase.”

He had to get there as fast as he could, who knew what Kuolun planned to do with the stone.

“Very well, you do that. But I want to be kept in the loop about your findings.”

With those words Inspector Lafoe dismissed him to take care of her own investigation.

Being the only one allowed to leave the building, he took the hover car which had brought him to the museum. Vul Kuolun meant bigger trouble then a squabble over a bunch of old ruins on Megara.

* * *

Grag easily navigated New York City’s streets, they were nothing compared to going at half the speed of light through the solar system’s asteroid belt. Not even the unpredictability of all the other people was an impediment, his reflexes far superior to anybody else’s.

He paid attention to everything and anything moving on the streets, so he could find the fastest and most efficient path, but even Grag had to observe the traffic rules and was stopped ever so often by the traffic lights. Usually he didn’t mind them, pedestrians were far too easily overlooked and Grag certainly agreed that they needed a safe way to cross the streets without having to fear being hit by a zipping along hover car. But today they were only useless obstacles, slowing him down when he had to send an urgent message to Captain Future.

It was maddening, he had just again gotten to the allowed top speed when he had to break again, because another traffic light had just switched to red.

If he didn’t know it better, he’d suspect sabotage. Almost each traffic light he had to pass, had been red. Joan had complained about this wave of red lights more than once, Grag had been sympathetic, but nonetheless amused by her ire. Now he understood her much better.

To Grag it felt like none of the other traffic lights had been red as long as this one. He was just contemplating taking the sidewalks in a flat run, when he saw the driver of the car in the lane next to him.

It was the man who had stolen the stone. For a moment too long Grag considered whether he should apprehend the man first or call Inspector Lafoe. The traffic lights had changed colors, the thief was going around the corner. Grag managed to switch lanes and ignored the enraged beeping coming from the ones he had cut off behind him. He turned the corner, this street had denser traffic than the one going to the space port. The culprit was a few cars in front of him. Grag followed him, keeping a few cars between him and the thief so as not to alarm him to being followed.

For half an hour Grag kept behind the thief who doubled back and circled certain blocks, but slowly and irrevocably they moved further and further from the center of the city. There were fewer and fewer cars on the streets. Grag had to leave more and more space between him and the thief’s car to avoid detection.  
He turned a corner and spotted just the hint of a tail light driving onto a scrapyard.

Grag passed the scrapyard and found a parking spot in a side street.

The scrapyard bordered the same street.

Using the cutter hidden in his finger, he cut the fence, dragging it slightly apart afterwards, so he could get through. Old machinery and hover cars were stacked in high heaps. Grag stole silently through them, towards a place further in, where he could hear voices. He hunkered down behind a hover car conveniently sticking out of a scrap heap. A wide space lay before him, oft to his left the compactor loomed. People stood in a loose circle in front of it. The man Grag had followed was just arriving.

“John, do you have the stone?”

An old man with gray hair and an eye patch addressed the new arrival.

“Yes, I got it. The cops are crawling all over the place. They have no idea what’s going on.”

The man just addressed as John remove a little felt pouch from his coat. The old man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, held out his hand. John shook the stone out of the pouch and handed it over. The other people drew closer, while the leader held the stone up towards the sun, the stone sparkling in the light.

Grag prepared to spring, intending to take the opportunity to reclaimed the stone.

Something seared him in the back, with a loud clatter he fell against the hover car in front of him.

He heard a commotion and then the leader called: “What’s going on back there, Snibs?”

Someone stepped next to Grag and said: “Looks like Captain Future’s pet robot followed John. I shot it.”

Hasty footsteps came over to where Grag had fallen.

“What? That’s the last thing we need. Our buyer made it quite clear that Captain Future wasn’t to be involved.”

Two people tried to lift Grag, but failed miserably.

“That thing weights a ton. What do we do with it? It can’t be found here.”

“Whatever we do, it has to be fast. The police will probably be hot on its heels. We have to leave now, if we want to catch our flight to meet our buyer.” the leader said. Dark red boots stepped into Grag’s sight, a plain looking woman peered at him critically. 

“Boss, this is a scrapyard. Why don’t we just scrap him? I can operate the compactor and the magnet to bring him to it.”

“Good thinking, Nan. Boys, get your stuff we are leaving.”

The humans moved away.

Grag meanwhile tried to reroute the signals from his destroyed main internal communications cable.

But whatever he had been shot with, had not only destroyed his main communications line, it had taken out several of the backup modules and other systems including the ones for sound generation. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t make a sound, he could only lay here and await his fate.

He heard machinery moving, a shadow fell over him, then he heard an electric whine, a powerful force pulled him upward. With a loud clang Grag hit the magnet, the magnet shifted slightly. The hover car Grag had been laying against hit the magnet next to him.

He should have contacted the Captain first or called for backup from Inspector Lafoe. Instead he had tried to solve the case by himself, tried to play the hero, and how he was paying for his impudence. His life would end here like common scrap metal and nobody would ever know what had happened to him. He hoped the stone would still be recovered. Hoped that someone would take care of Yiek.

He could see five men below him, looking up as the magnet moved towards the compactor. Then he could see its maw below him. There were already a few pieces of machinery in it.

The electric whine stopped, the magnetic force holding Grag to the magnet ceased. Grag fell.

The hover car fell half onto him. Then with a loud abused squeak, the cover plate of the compactor started to move. Grag could only see the ground below him, but still he felt the shift in the air, saw the ground darkening, then he felt the hover car above him moving, starting to press down on him.

His final moments had come. He had expected to go down on a far away world trying to protect the man he had raised since he been a wee babe from fantastic creatures, he hadn't expected being crushed in a compactor on good old Earth. Maybe he should have been nicer to Otto.

The compactor stopped and then it rattled, fast loud movements upward and downward. Making a big racket but never putting dangerous pressure on him.

And then the cover moved upwards, finally there was only silence.

Grag had been spared, but he was still stuck here. Not able to move or draw attention to himself.

After what felt like an eternity to Grag, although it had only been a few minutes, he heard footsteps. Someone was coming, probably to make sure that he was really scrap metal.

Soon enough dark red boots appeared. The woman knelt down next to him.

She said with a sigh: “I should have known the Futurecrew would get involved somehow. It’s a good thing it was you and not the Captain or Otto. I don’t think, I could have saved them like I could save you.”

* * *

Grag was sure he had never seen this woman before, or at least, he didn’t think so, her face had been utterly nondescript, she wouldn’t have stuck out in any crowd, the hair a dusty mishmash of brown, blonde and black.

She leaned over him with an easy familiarity, moments later she was trying to pry his back plating open. Not only trying, she was succeeding. There could be only one explanation, it had to be Otto. Who else would know about his inner workings, but him, the Captain and Professor Simon. And while Curtis was good, he’d never been en par with Otto in the disguising department. The Captain wouldn’t be able to disguise himself as a woman, but Otto would.

Grag relaxed somewhat as the plating over his main internal communications cables gave way centimeter by centimeter. No even facing Otto’s ribbing over the rescue for the rest of their lives could dampen the relief Grag felt at having been found and saved. He didn’t know how Otto had managed to get here so fast, how he knew about the thieves, but in this moment he didn’t care as with a last grunt the plate finally distached.

Grag felt nothing as Otto rummaged inside him while making contemplative noises instead of his usual comments.

“Hmm, there it is. It’s a good thing Weasel gloated about his weapon and what it does earlier. I know hot to fix you right up, just give me a moment.”  
Otto covered the hole in Grag’s back temporarily and went away.

It took him five minutes to come back, Grag hadn’t been worried. They might insult and disparage each other every chance they got, but when it counted, they had each other’s back.

Grag might even thank Otto for the masterful stunt with the compactor, if anybody had watched, they’d have been sure that he had been viciously crushed.

Maybe he shouldn’t say anything, the android would be insufferable enough as it were.

Grag couldn’t see what Otto was doing, but there was a long data cable dangling next to him, and the sound of a photon gun on a low setting. The whine of the dampened relay field was an unmistakable annoyance.

Finally Otto leaned over him again, set the plate aside and started to cut away at something inside Grag. Grag didn’t feel a thing of the procedure, the snipping stopped, the burnt pieces of cable landed next to him. It was indeed the main communications cable, the one that was supposed to be especially protected, since it had such an important role to play in Grag’s automotive system. 

The low key whine of the photon gun sounded again in short bursts as Otto, by the sound of it, welted the new cables in. Then he put the plating back in place and spot-welted it, so it would hold till proper repairs could be made.

“Okay, Grag. I don’t think, I know enough to make further repairs. I might just damage you more. Try resetting your fuses and restart the affected systems. That’s what worked for the hover car Weasel shot at.”

Grag did as he had been told, wondering about Otto’s words. The artificial man should know his systems almost inside out.

The fuses reset, the internal reboot having run, there was only one thing left to do. Grag hesitated for a moment, fearing that the command to move wouldn’t work, but then Otto would just have to come up with another plan. He sent the command sequence, conscious about his programs and mechanical parts as he hadn’t been in a long time.

His body moved easily enough, there was no slow down, nothing felt out of place. The command to stand up was followed flawlessly, the balancers doing their work as Grag stood, the was a slight sway of on millimeter into every direction, bu that was acceptable.

“It worked. Come on, Grag, we have to hurry if we want to catch up with Ulak.” 

Grag stopped Otto, who was uncharacteristically excited. While he could walk, he wanted to be able to talk, and now that he knew by Otto’s example how the damage could be repaired and was able to move under his own power, he opened his head, removing some of the cables by touch alone. They were as seared as the communications cable had been. Afterwards he picked some redundant cables from his visual modules and connected those to his oral systems. Another soft reboot later his oral systems recalibrated with a spate of static.

As unenthusiastic as he was able to, he said: “Thank you for saving me, Otto.”

Nobody could say that he had been ungrateful.

Otto started to laugh.

“My disguise must be really great if you mistook me for the master of disguises. It’s me, Grag. Joan!”

“Joan?”

He peered closely at her, he’d have never thought that this plain woman could be Joan. Dark gray eyes instead of brilliant blue. The shape of her nose and cheek bones were also wrong. And the Joan he remembered was not as heavy set as the woman in front of him. But as Grag ran the voice through the sound analyzer, he found out that she was right. Her voice patterns were of a different pitch but still matched Joan’s to a degree not even possible on a recording. 

“Joan! I can’t believe it. How did you manage to change yourself so much?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. We have to hurry, if we wan to be there when Ulak and his people get taken into custody. It’d also be better, if it looks like you managed to apprehend me. This disguise might come in handy again.”

* * *

They took the museum’s hover car back to the space port. The red traffic lights once again being the bane of their voyage.

“Joan, what were you doing with those people and in that disguise?”

She kept her eyes on the street, stopping the car at yet another red traffic light, where she took the time to give him a loop-sided smile.

“I am a secret agent. Being in the thick of things without anybody knowing who I am, is my job.”

While Joan had been at their side during several missions, they had rarely seen this side of her. 

“But you don’t wear a disguise when you are away on a mission with us and you wear the Planet Patrol uniform.” 

Just as the traffic light turned green, she looked at him enigmatically.

“Are you so sure what I normally look like isn’t a disguise? And my uniform and batch don’t look any different from those of normal Planet Patrol members.”

That gave Grag something to ponder. He had never thought that she could be anybody but the Joan they had first met on Megara. Maybe she wasn’t even called Joan, and if she weren’t would they be able to find out? The Secret Service was bound to have better security than anybody else, they probably had layer upon layer of false data about their agents to protect them.

They had never seen the need to check her out., The president knew her. Eszella knew her. The two men had to know the truth about her, didn’t they? The two men wouldn’t hide the real identity of someone who became a close associate of Captain Future and his crew, wouldn’t they?

Grag looked at Joan, the doubt gnawing at him.

“Relax, Grag. I never lied to you. What you saw is what you get. But this isn’t the only disguise I have and my Planet Patrol file has misdirections in place to protect me and those who know me.”

It was rare that Joan joked with in an almost Otto-like manner and she knew him well enough to see how worried he had been.

“I’m glad. I like the Joan Landor I know.”

She laughed.

“I like the Joan Landor I know, too. Although I’m sure you’d like some of my other Joans.”

“Is this one of your Joans? I didn’t like her when she suggested to throw me into a compactor, but she was nice enough to save me.”

The space port came into view, only a few more streets and they see the end of this affair.

“No, this is a Nancy. I try not to run around as another Joan in New York City. Sometimes people manage to draw far fetched connections. When we get to the space port we’ll tell everybody that the compactor had been too weak to crush you. You took me prisoner and when you called Planet Patrol, they told you to bring me here.”

He could do that. He’d made sure nobody would think that Joan had helped him. She’d get to be Nancy again, if she wanted to.

“I won’t fail you, Joan.”

“I know you won’t. Here we are. Time to get into the act.”

Joan parked the hover car next to one of the freight entry gates. They hadn’t walked two steps past the gate when she wore hand cuffs, arms chained behind her back. Grag didn’t ask her where she gotten the cuffs from, because in that moment someone in a Planet Patrol uniform arrived in the door at the other end of the freight hanger.

Grag called to the young man.

“Officer, I’m Grag. I know there’s an operation underway to catch the thieves of the space stone. I managed to catch this minx after she’d tried to kill me. Who’s responsible here?”

The young man’s eyes had gotten wider and wider while Grag had spoken, he looked like he was still wet behind his ears. He stuttered nervously and pointed the way.

Joan walked along sullenly, digging her heels in ever so often, as Grag kept his grip on her arm and dragged her with him. The young policeman, who hadn’t even given his name, kept staring at Grag. His face speaking of the awe at seeing a member of Captain Future’s crew.

From time to time he looked at Joan, who growled at him, which made the young man blush and cast his eyes about to look at something else, anything else.

Finally they came to a door which was no different from any of the other doors they had passed, but inside the room were about a dozen people, among them Inspector Lafoe.

“A, Inspector, good to see you. I have someone for you.”

Grag pushed Joan forward.

“Mr Grag, why are you still on Earth? And who is this?”

Give half a chance Grag started to tell his story.

“As I was on my way back to the space port. I saw the thief from the museum’s recording. I followed him for some time till he arrived at a scrapyard. There I observed several other people, among them this woman.”

He jerked Joan’s arm, she protested and glared at him evilly.

“From their discussions and the arrival of the thief, whom they called John, I deduced that they were in league to sell the stone to an unnamed buyer. I was just about to take them prisoner, when one of them surprised me and temporarily incapacitated me. They then decided to kill me and this woman,” another jerk to Joan, “tried to kill me with a compactor, while the rest of the group went to the space port.” He had said the compactor part with wounded affront. “Fortunately I’m made from sterner stuff and managed to take this woman prisoner. Then someone from Planet Patrol told me to just bring her here, so you could take her in with her complices.”

Inspector Lafoe looked a bit skeptical at first, but seemed to accept his explanation in absence of protests by Joan, who just stared sullenly at the floor.

“Well, you arrived at the right time. We managed to apprehend the whole gang just a moment ago. I was just about on my way to make sure they are ready for transport. Bring your captive along.”

They left through another door, walking through corridors filled with chattering, excited space port worker’s and grim-faced, armed policemen.

Finally they left the building through another door, where a hover van waited. It’s back doors were open. Grag saw Joan and Ulak sitting chained to the benches.

They looked surprised when they saw him.

“I thought that thing was destroyed.” 

They looked suspiciously at Joan, who stared back at them defiantly.

“You didn’t really think such a small, weak compactor,” pure disdain was in his voice, “could really harm me. Me, a member of the Futurecrew.”

He lifted Joan in next to her supposed comrades.

“There you go, I’m sure the judge will find a nice prison cell for you.”

Then Joan whispered just loud enough for Grag to hear: “Next time I’ll make sure there’s a bigger compactor, robot. Nobody gets away from me.”

By the mollified looks on John’s and Ulak’s face Grag hadn’t been the only who heard her threat. Then the doors closed on her glaring daggers at him. 

The van moved away. 

Inspector Lafoe stepped up next to him. 

“The operation went without a hitch, nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged. We only have two problems, the stone wasn’t with them and we don’t know who their buyer is.”

This was bad news, maybe the stone had already been handed over to Kuolun. Who knew what the man would do with it.

“I'll finally call Captain Future. What do you intend to do now, Inspector?”

The Inspector gave a weary sigh. We’ll grill the suspects and comb the space port, maybe the stone was lost in the hover car one of them or one of them strikes a deal with us. One of them also got away, but I’m sure we’ll have him in custody soon. I’ll contact you once we find something or need your help. I hope you’’ll extend the same courtesy to us, preferably before you end up in any other compactors.”

“I understand, Inspector. I shall return to the moon then.”

“Mr Grag! Wait!”

The same young man from earlier hurried over to them, he had a piece of paper in his hand.

“There’s a message for you! It just came in.”

Grag looked at the printed words.

[Wait for me at the Cosmoliner. J]

“Looks like a friend just invited herself to come with me to the moon.”

“A friend? To the moon? Her?” was the surprised reaction of the young man. 

“Officer Connor, I believe you have other duties.”

After that veiled rebuke Officer Connor said his goodbyes and hurried away.

“I won’t keep you any longer. Have a pleasant trip.”

“Goodbye, Inspector.”

Grag turned to got to the Cosmoliner. He wondered hoe long he would have to wait for Joan. It would be nice to have someone keeping him company, and now he knew why she hadn’t answered his calls. It probably wasn’t because she didn’t want to spend time with him if the Captain wasn’t there, too, but because she had to go undercover with the stone thieves.

Grag was looking forward to hear her story on how she’d found out about the case and to get back to the base so he could get his cables and back completely repaired.

* * *

Grag had to wait at the Cosmoliner for less than half an hour, when Joan came sprinting across the tarmac. Her hair was once again a fair blonde, her uniform was the familiar red one. Gone were the plain features of her face. This was the Joan he knew and liked. She carried a small bag.

He held out a hand to help her onto the little flier.

“It’s good to see you again, Joan.”

She laughed and squeezed his hand. Her hair was still damp and she fell into her seat after she’d stored her bag under it.

“Of course. I’ll come visit you at the Moonbase and keep you company while the Captain is off on his peace mission.”

Her comment came out of left field. He sat there for several long moments trying to decipher what had brought this on. Oh, his messages. She must have read them just before she came over and this was her answer. 

The answer he had hoped for, he liked spending time with Joan, and she always worked so hard, maybe this could be a mini-vacation for her.

“We can have a slumber party,” was his joking reply, but his next words were somber: “But, Joan, we still have to find that space stone.”

“I didn’t expect anything else. When we arrive at the Moonbase, we can start with the passenger lists. Ulak had planned to hand the stone over here. Maybe we’ll find a suspicious name on the passenger lists.” 

Reading the lists sounded boring, but Grag supposed that this was part of her work, too. It couldn’t all be exciting chases and clever disguises.

Just in that moment a light on the console turned on. Space port control had given them clearance to fly.

Grag had already finished the pre-flight checks while waiting for Joan. He lifted off extra carefully. The return flight to the Moonbase would be much slower, than his flight to Earth. Joan was too fragile for him to fly at his preferred acceleration. He had seen her take quite a lot of physical abuse and the bruises she sometimes got on their missions, but there was no reason now for extreme maneuvers and bone breaking accelerations. No, he wanted this to be a pleasant and comfortable flight for her.

“Joan, I wondered. You don’t need to tell me, if you don’t want to. Why were you undercover with those people? Did you know the stone would get stolen?”

“I didn’t know about the stone. Ulak and his men are usually small fish and nothing I’d be bothered with. Under normal circumstance Inspector Lafoe and her people would be quite capable to take care of them. But recently their modus opperanti changed. The space stone isn’t the first item which got stolen without a trace. In the last three months ten solid vaults got broken into, maybe more that haven’t been checked since then. Fortunately Weasel can’t hold his liquor very well. He bragged in earshot of one of our other agents, how they’d rule the valuables market, how they had a secret weapon and nobody would be able to stop them. He even showed a few pieces which had gone missing from the vaults. 

“So Planet Patrol decided to place an agent with them. They didn’t tell me the whole story, I didn’t know about the things vanishing from the vault, without the vaults being opened. I’d have called the Captain immediately, if I had known. It just sounded to much like the device Kuolun had. Even so, Planet Patrol fabricated an excuse to take some of Ulak’s gang out of commission and place me in the perfect spot with the perfect story to get taken on as the much needed stand in for their next coup.

“And then I found out about the dematerializer, which is just like Kuolun’s and have been trying to get away and inform the captain ever since. I just hadn’t gotten the chance for that so far. And Ulak had planned for more than stealing that stone, that was just supposed to raise the money for a much bigger heist.”

The Moonbase’s hangar doors opened as the Cosmoliner came closer.

“We have to make sure Kuolun doesn’t get that stone. And I had feared, I’d die of boredom with the others away.”

Joan laughed: “I’m sure if it hadn’t been the theft of the space stone, you’d have found other trouble to get into.”

“It’s not my fault. I was living a perfectly normal and quiet life for eighteen years. The troubles only started after the Captain decided he wanted to be a champion against the evil in the universe,” he protested.

Light as a feather he set the Cosmoliner down.

“Yes, lets blame the Captain. My life had been perfectly normal before I met him, too.”

They shook hands on their agreement.

Joan’s expression mock serious, her tone had been teasing.

He didn’t know the complete story of her life, but he was sure it was just as extraordinary has his, she was a secret agent after all.

“You know where the living room is, Joan. Get settled in. I’ll call the Captain and bring you a coffee.”

“All right, Grag.”

They went their separate ways.

When Grag saw her next, she was sitting on the couch, staring intently at the small text scrolling across the monitor’s screen.

She said an automatic thanks when he set the promised cup of coffee onto the console, never breaking eye contact with the screen.

“I tried to reach the Captain, but nobody answered my call. I left a message.”

Despite her noises of agreement, he wasn’t sure she’d heard what he’d said.

“So, how can I help you, Joan?”

She lifted her cup and took a sip.

“By looking at the passenger lists of the ships arriving during the hours leading up to Ulak’s arrival at the space port. Can you check the one’s after he was set to arrive? Tell me if you find something suspicious.”

“Right away, Joan.”

They spend the next half hour in companionable silence. Each clued to a screen, staring at lists over lists. Grag hoped he’d recognize suspicious names as suspicious.

“Joan, I think, I found it,” Grag exclaimed excitedly. “Look who was set to arrive mere five minutes after Ulak and who was set to leave on the next ship bound for Mars and hour later.”

“Sitoi!”

“Yes! I remember him, he wanted to gain the stones to rebuild the old Kerusu Empire.”

“I’ll call Inspector Lafoe, he can’t have gotten far and there’s the slight chance he already might have the stone.”

* * *

Back again on Earth, Inspector Lafoe called them and told them that Sitoi was indeed still on Earth, but wasn’t at the hotel he’d checked in. Her men were already looking for him. 

“Grag, lets try the scrapyard. We don’t know where Sitoi is and there’s a chance Weasel returned to it. It’s also the last place we had seen the stone.”

“Okay, Joan. Back to the scrapyard.”

The drive there was as annoying as the first time around. Joan was listening in on the search for Sitoi. His secretary had rented a car, which had fetched Sitoi to places unknown, just minutes before Joan had called Inspector Lafoe about him being a possible suspect.

Inspector Lafoe’s team was looking for the car, the traffic police had been informed, too. It was only a matter of time till Sitoi was found.

After many red traffic lights, they reached the scrapyard. Grag parked the hover car in the same spot as before.

“When you cut the wire fence back then, you tripped an alarm, Grag.”

Joan took a critical look at the section of the fence he’d cut earlier.

“Looks like nobody had a chance to patch it or install another alarm, yet. We should be safe going in, at best the alarm system would show an ongoing breach since you passed the first time.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Joan guided him through the stacks of old machinery, taking a different path to the center of the scrapyard. At one point he held her back, mimicking that he could hear someone close by. Carefully she crept forward and took a look around the corner only to scuttle back silently. She drew her battle strategy into the dirt, he nodded his understanding. As quietly as he was able to, he walked around the stack till he turned the final corner with a loud stomp, the guard looked at him in surprise. But before he could raise an alarm. Joan had already shot him.

Grag caught the falling man, preventing him from hitting the stack of machinery and creating a klaxon.

It was then that Grag heard voices arguing, he gestured at Joan and in silent accord they went into the direction the voices came from. The voices got louder till they could finally understand what was said.

One man was complaining that this was less than the agreed upon amount of money. Joan silently mouthed ‘Weasel’. Another voice objected that he had incured additional costs, as the stone hadn’t been delivered as they’d agreed upon. Grag recognized that voices as Sitoi’s. Through a small slit in the machinery they could see the two men, Sitoi was accompanied by a bodyguard.

The arguments and haggling continued. At one point Sitoi demanded to see the stone. Weasel told him that he’d only show the stone once he was ready to hand it over.

Joan was back to drawing battle plans into the dust. He wasn’t happy that she sent him after Weasel while she intended to face Sitoi and his bodyguard. But she made it quite clear that they had to take Weasel out first, to be rid of his weapon. Sitoi probably didn’t carry a weapon, which left Joan to take care of the bodyguard. Grag could take a stray shot from a normal weapon, but neither he nor Joan stood a chance against Weasel’s. Finally he acquiesed to her plan, just in time for Weasel and Sitoi to finish their haggling over the stone and its price.

Weasel took a pouch from his vest and showed Sitoi its contents. Apparently it was the stone, because Sitoi handed over the case with the money while taking pouch.

Joan sprang into action. Grag hot on her heels. Her first shot hit its target, the bodyguard going down. Grag didn’t do as well, Weasel had moved unexpectedly closer to Sitoi when Grag had expected him to turn away. Grag only managed to hit his shoulder, making him drop the weapon he’d apparently tried to draw on Sitoi.

Weasel ducked behind an old excavator. Grag found cover for himself.

Next to him shots were fired. Joan meeting more resistance than expected, apparently Sitoi had more bodyguards than they’d been able to see. But by the sounds of it, she had her situation well in hand, so Grag concentrated on Weasel. The man tried to circle around, attempting to vanish beyond more scrap metal or possibly trying to come up beind Grag. A well-placed warning shot send him scuttling back behind the excavator.

Then Weasel gave two shots with his special weapons at Grag’s hiding place. The second shot was weaker than the first. Grag stuck his head out behind his cover. Another shot, definitely weaker than they other two. Grag repeated his dangerous game, teasing shot after shot from Weasel. After about ten shots Weasel started using a normal ray gun to shoot at Grag. The shot glanced of Grag, who kept running over to Weasel, hoping that it wasn’t just a trick to draw Grag out. Too late Weasel had figured out that he couldn’t down Grag with a normal weapon, after he’d exhausted his other one. He tried to flee on foot, but Grag managed to hit him with a shot of his own, stunning the man.

There was a loud crashing sound then. Grag turned around, the compactor was in motion, Joan and Sitoi precariously balancing on one of its sides. The cover was slowly lifting past the two. 

Grag reached the compactor. He saw someone coming out from its control post, raising a piece of scrap to throw it at Joan. Grag shot him.

Joan had reached Sitoi, the two were grappling with each other. Joan clearly being the better fighter. And so the obvious happened, Sitoi lost his footing, falling into the compactor.

He grabbed at Joan, who tried to hold him, dragging her down with her.

“Grag!” Joan called.

He climbed the compactor. Joan clung with one hand to the top of the compactor. Carefully Grag made his way over. Too late he saw that the compactor was still moving. Slowly the cover started to descend again.

Joan struggled to hold on one-handed. Her other hand kept a grip on Sitoi, who frantically tried to scramble up on her as he saw the compactor closening, his movements threatened to dislodge the both of them.

Slowly Grag inched closer, the compactor closening at a steady pace. When he reached Joan, the cover plate was already at shoulder height to him. Roughly he grabbed Joan’s arm and dragged her out none to gently. When she was high enough, Grag snatched Sitoi with his other hand, getting him out just in the nick of time, a moment more and the man’s foot would have been caught. Joan had let go of Sitoi and clung to Grag instead. Grag kept Sitoi at arm’s length, the man having fainted.

“Lets get down from here.” Joan’s voice was shaking.

Carefully they shuffled onto saver grounds, Grag carrying Sitoi.

They made it down just as Inspector Lafoe and her team arrived.

Joan took a moment to hid behind Grag, to compose herself, before she faced the Inspector, no hint remaining that she had just been shaking in terror after almost being crushed by the compactor.

Inspector looked at them dead panned.

“I actually prefer to solve my own cases instead of just doing mob up, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else with the Futurecrew involved.”

* * *

Grag had known the Comet was back, but instead of going to the hangar to meet the others, he stayed here. There was no hurry, Kuolun hadn’t actually been involved. Everything had been Sitoi’s idea, who had managed to snag one of Kuolun’s dematerializers, back when the two had worked together.

The Captain hadn’t actually needed to return for this, Grag had left another message. But apparently the Captain had still come back early. Maybe the negotations had failed.

The door to the living room opened. Grag hissed: “Be quiet, Joan is sleeping,” before the rest of the Futurecrew had stepped through the door. The Captain hurried over, but stopped short when he saw them.

The emotions chased each other across his face, so fast that Grag couldn’t decipher them. Otto raised an eyebrow. Grag didn’t know why they seemed so weirded out. 

After dealing with Inspector Lafoe, leaving her to take care of Sitoi and wrapping the case up, Joan and Grag had returned to the Moonbase and decided upon having a quiet movie night. Grag had sat next to Joan on the couch, she’d curled up with a blanket, a pizza within easy reach. She hadn’t lasted through the first movie, a colorful affair with lots of singing.

And now the pizza lay half eaten. Joan was curled up against Grag, sleeping.

“Grag, your messages were rather cryptic. What happened? And where is the space stone?”

Grag answered Professor Simon’s questions. Whispering so Joan wouldn’t be disturbed. Telling them about him bringing the stone to the museum. How the stone had been stolen, how he had found the scrapyard. How Joan had saved him. Otto snorted at that, but Grag ignored him. About the police operation at the spaceport. How they had figured out that Sitoi was involved. About the fight at the scrapyard. How he had saved Joan and Sitoi.

“I have brought back Weasel’s weapon.” Grag hesitated then.

“But the stone fell into the compactor when Sitoi tried to save himself after Joan and he fell. It was crushed. I brought back as many shards as I could find.”

“It’s too bad about the stone, but better to lose it than either of you. I don’t think I could have done it better myself. After this successful mission maybe you can help me with mine. Those blockheads on Megara are finding the most irrational reasons to disagree with each other.”

“We’ll help you, but only after we had a week’s vacation. We earned it,” came Joan’s sleepy voice. She really had to be in need of a vacation, if she didn’t immediately jump on the chance to accompany the Captain.”

“Take all the time you want, Joan. We earned our vacation and those blockheads on Megara won’t go anywhere.”

Joan snuggled closer to Grag who drew the blanket up to her neck.

☙End❧

* * *


End file.
